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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

This March 24, 2011 aerial photo taken by a small unmanned drone and released by AIR PHOTO SERVICE shows damaged Unit 3 of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/AIR PHOTO SERVICE)

The government has revealed the outline for a special committee to investigate the cause of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, including plans to solicit contributions by foreign experts.

The outline, unveiled May 11, states that a committee of 10 experts will be named by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, while the final details of the committee will be decided shortly by the Cabinet.

Furthermore, criticism of dysfunction at the Nuclear Safety Commission, the paucity of information on the crisis provided to the international community, and the slow reaction to the accident by the government and nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) has been made following the accident. The new committee will not just investigate the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, but also use the assembled critiques to build recommendations on reforms to Japanese nuclear safety policy.

The committee will be broken into three working groups; one to investigate the cause of the accident, the second to analyze measures to prevent the disaster from growing, and the third to examine nuclear legislation. According to the government, the committee will take an impartial, multilateral approach to examining the causes of the crisis.

Committee members will include nuclear engineers, seismologists and radiation safety experts, as well as legal and financial figures and representatives of local governments affected by the crisis. It will also call on Cabinet members and senior bureaucrats connected to the issue, power company representatives and International Atomic Energy Agency staff to speak to the committee.

Furthermore, the committee will request experts from the United States, France, Russia and other nations with nuclear power programs to participate in deliberations in an advisory role.

In this photo taken on Thursday, March 31, 2011 by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and released by Japan Defense Ministry Friday, April 1, Top parts of explosion-damaged reactors from left, Unit 4, Unit 3, Unit 2 and Unit 1 of the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex are seen with ravaged waterfront facilities in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (AP Photo/Japan Defense Ministry )

The committee office will be under direct Cabinet supervision, and its secretariat will be recruited from outside government ministries and agencies subject to the investigation. The outline projects the committee will release an interim report by the end of the year, with the final version to be submitted in summer 2012.

"We will not just release the final product, but make the entire investigative process open to the public," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a press conference on May 11.